Artis Leon Polk Jr., 30, was convicted Friday in the death of 23-year-old Charles Knighten.

Jurors deliberated for two hours before sentencing him to the maximum of 99 years in Knighten’s death, the news release said.

Polk was also sentenced to 20 years for unlawfully possessing a firearm. The sentences will run concurrently.

The shooting occurred after Knighten went to see his two kids at his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and got in an argument with Polk, who had recently moved into the apartment.

Family members broke up the dispute, but a short while later Polk grabbed a gun and shot Knighten 12 times before fleeing in a car.

The Tarrant County District Attorney’s office said Polk had previously been convicted for drug possession, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, burglary of habitation and aggravated robbery.

He had been released from prison six months prior to killing Knighten. Two days before the murder Polk had bought the semi-automatic he used to kill Knighten off the streets in Dallas, the DA’s office said.

“The defendant had been out of prison less than six months when he bought an assault rifle off the streets,” Assistant District Attorney Lloyd Whelchel said in the release. “Two days later he used that weapon to blow away a father in front of his children on Thanksgiving Day.”

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